In 2023, crickets invaded nine different Western states, including northwest Colorado. Anabrus simplex, or Mormon crickets, don’t bite or sting, but they do cause crop damage as they eat their way across the landscape in droves. They’ve also been blamed for traffic accidents when they migrate across county roads and highways. And there is a general “ick” factor that comes with millions of large bugs covering every exterior surface.
Getting the cricket population under control isn’t a simple process. While almost any insecticide will work on crickets, the cost of application and reapplication is prohibitive for property owners. Rio Blanco County’s weed and pest control district has provided “cricket bait” to residents. The bait kills the adults that eat it and the insects that eat the dead ones. It may also act as a barrier for the crickets as they migrate. The bait is not enough by itself, prompting a collaborative and preemptive campaign for cricket control next spring.
Multiple agencies met earlier this year to discuss ways to get the crickets under control in 2024 before they mature. Doing so involves locating the places where this year’s cricket population laid eggs, and treating those areas as they hatch in the spring with Dimilin, an insecticide that prevents the insects from molting and thus stops them from reaching reproductive maturity.
A second meeting was held Monday at the Rio Blanco Fire Protection District in Meeker. “We’re planning ahead to be as organized as possible this spring,” said White River/Douglas Creek Conservation Districts executive director Callie Scritchfield.
Moffat County Pest Management Manager Jesse Schroeder, present at Monday’s meeting, said, “up until last year we’ve kind of been able to keep them at bay because the hatches we were finding early were kind of in the 40 to 60-acre range. And we were kind of keeping them beat back a little bit. And then for whatever reason this year, the first hatch we found was 640-something acres.”
Crickets were spotted in residential areas near Rangely, have been seen a few miles outside of Meeker on Sulphur Creek Road, and swarmed through the Strawberry Creek region west of Meeker. Highways 13 and 40, in some locations, were covered with insects and their carcasses as bands of crickets moved through. Schroeder said almost all of Unit 201 is full of crickets, as well as Brown’s Park.
He has been mapping areas of concern and said as soon as the snow melts off south-facing slopes, crickets start hatching. Once they reach maturity they start migrating, and when they stop marching, they lay eggs. Finding those egg beds will be key to getting the cricket population under control.
“Our attack is going to be trying to bump them back from the towns and get that east edge moved back to the west,” he said.
The White River and Douglas Creek Conservation Districts were awarded a matching grant from the Colorado State Conservation Board for $50,000 to use for pest control. Matching that funding will require assistance from all impacted parties and agencies, including affected landowners who wish to participate.
The funding would primarily be used for aerial spraying of Dimilin, which is effective for grasshoppers and crickets but is not harmful to livestock, birds, fish, or beneficial insects like honeybees. Aerial spraying could be used on large swaths of open ground, but it is not approved for use in residential areas. Scritchfield said the estimated cost of aerial spraying is $10 an acre.
The increase in the scope of the cricket invasion “started hitting the threshold” to prompt attention from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a necessary step in getting funding and permission to treat the cricket problem on federal lands, but any approved funding won’t be available until early spring, creating a limited time frame to plan and mobilize cricket mitigation. Thus, the efforts to coordinate a plan ahead of time.
The next step will be asking people to report where they last saw crickets in the area during August or September as a way to start flagging potential egg beds. That information will be collected and mapped to prepare for flagging and prioritizing areas to spray come spring.
Where to report late summer/early fall cricket populations will be published as soon as that information becomes available.
